Alcohol and Card Games
by ReadyFred-ReadyGeorge
Summary: An Idea that came to me after a GX/5D's binge. Jack finds himself in conversation with an old face at a bar, and they reminisce about duels gone by. Nods to ships and some stuff on what became of the characters from the first two series by the time of 5D's. One-off, but I guess I could add another chapter if people review. Rated T for reference to smut, though none actually shown


**A.N: A short which came to me during a massive Yugioh GX/5D's Binge, I'm getting back to 'In the End' in the next few days, and then I'm working on a couple of my other projects, so I should be updating more often. I know I always say that, but I mean it this time I swear!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's sequels GX and 5D's, or ZEXAL either come to think of it.**

**PS: There are nods, some obvious, some not, to all my favourite Yugioh ships in this story, just so you know.**

The Hotel wasn't exactly five star quality, but he could live with that he supposed. The rooms were comfortable, It had plenty of peace and quiet for him to focus on the upcoming tournament, and the bar had beer on tap completely free for all participants, so it had the essentials. Jack grinned despite himself; here he was, the former 'King of Games' sitting at a bar, internally ruminating on the availability of beer, such as the pint grasped gingerly in his right hand like the awkward first hand-holding of a teenage romance, whilst Yusei and Akiza were probably upstairs 'perfecting their decks' as they liked to call it. Jack's grin widened ever so slightly, his best friend might be fooling Crow and the twins (not that it took anything elaborate to outwit Crow, he internally footnoted) but Jack knew '_we're having sex'_ when he heard it. His grin grew into a full-blown, somewhat drunken, chuckle as he mentally chastised Yusei on his denseness; at least he and Carly had a spot of variation in their excuses: '_We're uploading Carly's Pictures._' '_We need to go fix her Camera_.' _'I'm letting Carly do a special on my deck building strategy._' He knew that nobody bought it, but at least he had the self-respect to try. Jack was trying desperately to wrap his totteringly tipsy mind around some kind of innuendo regarding the unveiling of his 'Red Dragon Archfiend' When he noticed out of the corner of his eye that someone had perched themselves in the seat next to him.

'Yo Barman! I'll take a whiskey-and-coke!.' Jack hadn't looked up at the newcomer until he spoke, but there was something about the man's voice that commanded attention, not in the way he did of course, rather it was the sort of intonation that kicks off teenage parties or attracts female company in bars not unlike this one. Jack let a single eye covertly take in the man's appearance. He was obviously a good couple of decades older than Jack, but you had to study him from up close to see it. His brown hair fell about his shoulders in a dark, carefully maintained cascade that had not even begun to lose any of its colour even though the man was clearly in his late thirties. He was tall, certainly taller than Yusei, though not quite matching up to Jack's rather gargantuan height, and he had an easy grin that one could tell was nigh on always plastered upon his face. But his eyes were what betrayed the age behind the youthful mask. Corny though it was to say it, Jack couldn't help but observe the lines around the edges, the slight wrinkles and creases that should not, however translucent, however well hidden, however masked, rest upon the face of one so young. Jack Atlas prided himself on only a short list of things, whatever his egotistical front might propagandise, and one of them was that he knew when a man had 'seen things.' He knew who had a story to tell. Jack snapped back into reality when he realised the smiling stranger had taken notice of his observations.

'Like what you see eh?' the older man joked, taking a swig from his drink with practiced ease. 'Sorry, I don't bat for that team…well maybe once back at the academy…SOOO, you're Jack Atlas right?' he barrelled between sentences with the air of someone who's mouth was battling their brain for dominance. Jack responded with a curt nod, his mind racing as to where he'd seen this particularly bar-friendly brunette before, he blinked through the slight haze that his recently ingested alcohol had clamped upon his memories, before a wave of mental snapshots of magazine covers hit his consciousness like an A-listing Freight Train. Jack managed to cover up his eureka moment before it showed on his face, restricting himself to a professional grin.

'Indeed, and you're Atticus Rhodes.'

'The one and only.' Atticus took another experienced swig before setting down his drink with carefully measured force, so that the liquid remained entirely undisturbed. Jack covered up his awe at the subtle touches of class that surrounded the other man. 'Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance Jack, you and your team must be the only people in the Pro Leagues I've never gone up against.'

'And Beaten, it would seem, you're record precedes you Atticus.' Jack offered his hand to the other duellist, who shook it brotherly, 'I read about your match against Aster Phoenix the other week. A First-Turn-Kill? I haven't seen that done so quickly since…'

'You beat Bolt Tanner.' Atticus finished for him, 'What can I say? I had a hell of a good opening hand, and credit where it's due; Aster is a tremendous duellist, my partner here just ended things a bit too quickly for him that day.' Atticus slid a hand into the inner pocket of his white coat and produced a card, held lovingly between two carefully manicured fingers.

'The Red-Eyes Black Dragon.' Jack intoned, raising his glass in a quiet toast, 'To a card with great power,'

'Potential..' Atticus corrected with a smile, before continuing 'And a truly great history.' Their glasses clinked against each other with a light, fraternal jingle.

'Red-Eyes was one of the first Duel Monsters Cards Pegasus ever made, so I hear it.' Inquired Jack, a smile playing about his lips at the rare chance to indulge in some duel monsters history that didn't involve stuff blowing up or the world ending. With a gentle, professional flick of his left hand, he signalled the bartender for another drink, the banknote appearing in Jack's hand so fast and so subtly that no observer could have seen him draw it. Two could quite clearly play the 'class' game.

'You hear correctly my friend,' replied the older duellist, 'I remember watching the footage from Duellist Kingdom when I was a kid; Joey Wheeler was kicking ungodly levels of butt with this baby before I had even learned how to shuffle properly!' he chuckled; a light, almost tinkly sound that made the air between them somehow lighter. Atticus Rhodes was clearly a practiced entertainer. The ghost of the laugh still etched upon his mirthful features, he leaned in close to Jack, eyes darting around furtively for listeners, like a jungle cat who knows it is being hunted, taking the last, tentative steps before it pounces on its prey, watching lest the prey be bait for something more sinister. His whisper was quiet as the breeze, yet it hit a chord so loud within Jack that the 'Master of Faster' swore his eardrums would burst at the force.

'I duelled him with it once.'

Jack fought with every ounce of mental strength not to shout the very roof down.

'You got to duel against Joey Wheeler?! For real?! Surely you're joking?!' all pretence of being suave abandoned, Jack watched, goggle-eyed as the man before him let loose the biggest 'I'm-the-man-kneel-before-me-unbelievers!' grin he had ever seen.

'No joke, I genuinely did; The 15th Anniversary of the battle city finals, best day of my professional life.' Atticus continued his stroll down memory lane, his memorial feet guiding him further down the path, with Jack hopping along merrily behind him into the past. 'All three of the big names were there; Yugi, Kaiba and Joey. Yugi didn't duel, but he was signing autographs and shaking hands with more people than could be counted, I didn't get to meet him that day, the line was too long.' A touch of sadness breathed into his voice, but was exhaled as fast as it made it's entrance, 'People fought each other with fists and decks for a chance to duel Seto Kaiba; I remember seeing Blue-Eyes White Dragon send a lot of kids home in disappointment, though to be fair to the guy, he never turned down a challenge, and he gave out some awesome cards to the kids that impressed him.' Atticus' grin turned into a full blown smile, stretching from one ear to the other as he recounted the next part, his voice weighted with pride, 'Then Zane Truesdale stepped up to challenge Kaiba. My god, the game went on for an hour at least before they both called it quits, neither of them could beat the other. I remember seeing the look on Zane's face when Kaiba shook his hand and told him it was the best duel he'd had in years.'

Jack took a steadying glug of his drink, he knew all about Zane Truesdale's legendary skill first hand: _Cyber End Dragon_ had tilted more than one joust against _Red Dragon Archfiend_ and every time they squared off, Jack had been on the ropes for the entire duel, and Zane's Cyberdark's had taught the blonde star more than one lesson in humility. Jack had to take another drink when he remembered that those beatings had been meted out to him by a man who's heart could fail on him at any given point, who relied on the defibrillator in his chest to get through a duel sometimes. Ever teetering between life, and the beyond, stubbornly clinging to existence like statues under acid rain. No matter how much weathering they took, they still stood tall. Zane Truesdale was a living lesson in both duelling mastery and unflinching resolve. To know that he'd even matched himself squarely against THE Seto Kaiba, a man almost deified in Duelling History, second only to Yugi himself, was humbling to say the least.

'I heard you were close with Zane, makes sense that you'd be there to cheer on your best friend.' Jack mused, before chuckling, 'most of my current best friends thought I was an arsehole until not long ago, so I never had a chum to cheer me on. Plenty of fans, but no friends.' Jack looked up from his musings to see Atticus staring intently at his drink, a small, barely perceptible smile on his face. 'Best friends…yeah, you could call it that..' he breathed. Jack nodded solemnly, that was a smile that didn't need clarification to him. He'd seen Carly wear it often enough.

'I believe Zane now has a second copy of _'Cyber End' _framed on his mantelpiece, with Kaiba's rather ostentatious autograph on it.' Atticus segwayed back into the prior conversation. Atticus' eyes had misted over somewhat, and Jack knew that the climax of the story was fast approaching.

'It was right after Kaiba and Zane drew that I saw Joey.' He began, every word laced with adoration, not like a squealing fanboy, but like a real, devoted supporter, 'he was keeping to himself quite a lot, letting Kaiba and Yugi take the spotlight. I felt kind of sorry for him in a way, there he was, a duelling legend, and he was practically ignored by comparison to the two superstars arrayed next to him. I say ignored, he had a fair crowd of people hanging around him at various points, but it was nothing like the size of the crowds near the other two. I hated seeing my hero be so overshadowed. He hadn't duelled that day, he'd just been signing stuff posing for photographs, so when I asked him for a match he practically jumped at the chance.' The veteran went quiet for a moment, lost in the thralls of his own memory, and for a fleeting second, Jack saw Atticus' true age behind his mask of seeming youth. He was in the presence of one who had both walked with giants, and been a giant himself.

'So, what happened? Did you win?' Jack inquired tentatively. Atticus didn't answer for several seconds, the man was completely lost in his reverie, or so it seemed until he let forth a giant peal of laughter that shook the very bar with the force of his mirth.

'Me? Beat HIM? Oh god no, he handed my ass to me!' Atticus practically belched out each word between joyful rumblings of laughter, 'I mean come on Jack, I might be a famous pro NOW, but back then I had barely graduated Duel Academy, just because I was in the honours dorm doesn't mean I was of that kind of calibre.' His laugh gently subsided, like the waves that simmer down in size after a typhoon, until all that's left is the gentle lapping against the shore. 'But our Red-Eyes' got to face off before the end.' He finished, causing Jack to take his umpteenth, much needed drink.

'Well that was quite the story.' Jack found the words at last to reply, before adding, an unfamiliar touch of sadness in his voice, 'Wheeler retired from Pro Duelling not long after I joined the leagues, I missed the window I had to take him on.' Atticus grimaced slightly, and patted Jack's shoulder solemnly.

'Tough break man, but hey, you've still got people like the Truesdales, me, Aster Phoenix, Jesse Anderson, and Jaden Yuki, whenever he gets his ass out of bed, still popping up, and I for one have no immediate retirement plans. So you got plenty of legends around to kick your ass' Jack couldn't help but chuckle at that, finishing his beer with a jesting swig.

'You can try Rhodes, you can try.' Suddenly a thought crossed Jack's mind, a rumour about the upcoming tournament that a haze of pre-duelling booze had shielded from his memory. 'Hey, did you hear, supposedly some big duellist is making a grand entrance at the tournament, some 'blast from the past' as I heard it.' Atticus nodded, a furtive expression upon his angelic visage.

'Yeah, it's not Yugi, Joey or Kaiba, I spend too much time on their blogs to miss something like that.' Atticus ticked off his mental list of duelling legends from times gone by, 'It's not Marik either, a friend of mine called Bastion works at Duel Academy; Marik is often in doing history lectures on ancient Egyptian duelling, and they go out for drinks whenever he's over here. If Marik was appearing at a tournament, Bastion would have heard.'

'Mai Valentine hasn't been seen on the duelling circuit for years, I heard she became a model.' Jack contributed, to which Atticus merely shrugged, 'I was never a fervent fan of Mai, she sorta slipped under my radar, but I agree it's unlikely to be her.'

'So who could it be then?' Jack pondered, taking a thoughtful sip of his beer in the hope that it would provide an answer to the riddle of the mystery duellist. He was close enough in that assumption, for a small, barely perceptible voice crept up on them. It's tone, cultured, quavering and nervous, yet edged with pride. Like a performer who knows his own ability, but is afraid to give himself credit for it.

'It's me.'

Jack turned around with a speed that could have outstripped his duel runner, and it took every ounce of his not-to-be-sniffed-at fortitude to not choke on his drink at the sight stood just a few metres before him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could clearly see Atticus had gained a similar state of shock, only his involved spilling his scotch down his otherwise immaculate coat, followed by a string of colourful curses.

There was no alcoholic haze to hide behind this time, no wool to be thrown over Jack's eyes. There was no mistaking this man. The striped shirt, the battle-city model Duel Disk strapped to his arm, the thin, haggard look like he hadn't ever eaten properly, the brown eyes that somehow managed to be soft, and haunting at the same time, the whie hair falling in a messy tangle down past his shoulders, clashing exotically with the immaculate and heavily gelled and maintained hairdos of the other two. Even though his body showed subtle signs of his age, much like Atticus did, he still managed to look like he's stepped out of the past. If Jack had been standing any further away he would have sworn he looked not a day older than he did when he stared down Yugi Muto during the Battle City quarter finals.

'You're Ryo…' Jack managed to stutter, words completely failing him at the sight of such an infamous, yet revered legend before him…. 'Ryo Bakura…'


End file.
